Brett Favre fears he has CTE, opens up about possibly ‘thousands’ of concussions from NFL career

During his NFL career, Brett Favre was fearless. But now, all these years later, after suffering what he concedes may be "thousands" of football concussions, he he admits the future is "very scary."

Favre, who has become an advocate for concussion research in sports, is worried he may start seeing the early effects of degenerative brain disease in himself as he gets older. Though he appears to be in peak physical condition, the Hall of Fame QB said on Thursday's "Megyn Kelly Today" that he's concerned about concussions he suffered in the NFL creeping up to torment him in the coming years.

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"No matter what I do to try to take care of myself physically, that is a part of my future that I really can't control and that is very scary," Favre said.

Favre said he is starting to see differences in his short-term memory, that it is not as sharp as his long-term ability to recall plays and events from many years ago. He said he sometimes has difficulty finding the right words in conversation. Favre, 48, is starting to wonder if when he forgets his keys is a typical symptom of getting older, or if those memory lapses are a sign of something more frightening.

"I wonder if that's what it is, or do I have early stages of CTE?" he said.

Favre recently produced a documentary warning of the dangers of concussions in all sports, not just football called "Shocked: A Hidden Factor in the Sports Concussion Crisis." He has also said he would prefer if his grandchildren played golf instead of football, though he will not discourage them. Despite his fears, Favre understands his football career brought him and his family immense wealth and fame, and he does not regret playing the sport for so long.

Brett Favre has become an advocate for concussion research and fears he may have CTE. (Mike Roemer/AP)

"My football career has meant a great deal to me and has provided a lot of things, a lot of joy not only for me, but for my family," Favre said. "Now, my family doesn't have to face the physical problems that could potentially arise, or the mental problems that could, but they are directly associated with me in that regard. It's kind of a blessing and a curse. I grew up playing football. My dad was the coach, he was tough on me, he was a hard-nosed, just in-your-face-type of guy and he didn't know what concussions were about. We knew basically what a concussion was, but the thought process in those days was you would never come out of a game or practice because you had a little head ding. You would be considered, for lack of a better term, a 'sissy.'

"My point in this is 30 years ago, there wasn't a problem in anyone's mind from playing football," he said. "It was just a matter of being tough and the ones who stuck it out and made the most of it. Now, what we know, is it has nothing to do with toughness and that's a lot scarier. So I look at my career as something wonderful; I didn't know. Had I known in year five, I would have looked at my future a bit closer as my career unfolded."

Favre estimates he suffered three or four concussions in his NFL career. "But as we're learning about concussions, there's a term we use in football and maybe other sports, that I got 'dinged.'"

According to Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered CTE in 2002, a ding, as they are called, when you get hit in the head and see stars, is no different than a concussion.

Favre said he played 17 years in the NFL before the league started to get serious about head injuries. Up to that point, he suffered "an enormous amount of injuries." Back then, getting hurt was just part of the game everyone accepted.

"You saw older players, retired players, would walk with a limp. (You think) 'That's what I'm going to look like,'" he said. "That's the price you pay. Now, I think the focus is on your mental health. You're going to have knees, hip, shoulders, those type of issues. That's just part of it. But head injuries and concussions were never considered a problem for long-term, until now."

Kelly also had on Abby Wambach, Kurt Warner and former MLB catcher David Ross to talk about head injuries in all sports. All of the athletes were also there to promote a concussion drug they invested in called Prevacus, a nasal spray they hope wins FDA approval.

Ross said he was diagnosed with "three of four" concussions during his MLB career, suffered a ton of dings behind the plate, and is now concerned about the toll baseball took on his brain. Ross, a two-time World Series champ with the Red Sox and Cubs, said he has random memory lapses, like the time he forgot to pick up his daughter from school. He also once snapped in a fit of road rage he said is way out of character for himself, possibly another sign he may be suffering from early symptoms of CTE.

"I was going to do some bad things to that guy if he got out of the car," Ross said. "It was probably one of the scariest moments. My wife touched me and said, 'You need to calm down.' I was in a bad place."